Episode no. Season 1
Episode 29 Written by Steven W. Carabatsos Cinematography by Jerry Finnerman | Directed by Herschel Daugherty Featured music Alexander Courage Production code 029 | |
"Operation: Annihilate!" is the last original episode from the first season of the original American science fiction television series Star Trek. It is episode #29, production #29, and was broadcast April 13, 1967. It is written by Stephen W. Carabatsos, and directed by Herschel Daugherty.
Contents
In this episode, the crew of the USS Enterprise must find a way to exterminate malevolent parasitic creatures that have taken over the bodies of residents of a Federation colony.
Plot
The Federation starship the USS Enterprise is tracking a path of mass insanity that has gripped several planets in its wake, causing collapse of their civilizations. They approach Deneva, a Federation outpost where Captain Kirk's (William Shatner) brother, Sam, has been stationed along with Sam's wife Aurelan and son Peter. On entering the system, they witness a ship directly dive into the local sun, its pilot raving incoherently about being "free" up until its destruction, and the Enterprise crew fear they may be too late.
Transporting to Deneva, Kirk, First Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and a security detail find the outpost quiet. A group of men from the outpost come out and try to warn the landing party away and suddenly fall into a fit of violence. Kirk has the men stunned, and McCoy finds that they are still being stimulated to behave violently despite being unconscious. They explore the outpost and locate the Kirk family home; Sam (William Shatner in a dual role) lies dead on the floor, while Aurelan (Joan Swift) acts irrationally before passing out and Peter (Craig Hundley) is comatose. Kirk and McCoy return with the survivors to Enterprise, where McCoy finds they are suffering from violent tendencies similarly to the outpost men. McCoy gives both painkillers, and Aurelan wakes briefly to warn Kirk that some agency had forced them to bring them to the planet months ago and this agency is looking to spread beyond the planet through the ability to control people's bodies. Aurelan dies from the pain.
Kirk returns to the planet and joins Spock in search for these entities. They find a number of macroscopic single-cell organisms attached to the walls and ceiling of one building. The organisms fly, and attempt to attack the humans; the landing party finds they are immune to phaser fire. One makes contact with Spock before they can pry it off, and Spock falls in pain. They transport back to the Enterprise, and McCoy determines that the creature has injected some of its tissue into Spock's spinal column, and it will be impossible to remove surgically. When Spock regains consciousness, he is able to break free of his bonds and attempts to take control of the ship but McCoy sedates him in time. Later, Spock apologizes to Kirk and asserts that his mental discipline can control the pain, but that he must return to the surface to acquire a specimen to study. Kirk and McCoy agree, and Spock, on return to the outpost, is able to stun a creature. Returning to the Enterprise, Spock determines that the creatures are part of a hive mind, and apparently indestructible. They recall the ship pilot that claimed he was free before diving into the sun, and suspect the sun's properties may harm the creatures. Despite numerous tests, Spock and McCoy fail to find a solution.
Kirk holds a senior staff meeting, asserting they must find a solution before these creatures reach the next inhabited planet, holding over a million people, without harming them. A debate ensues, but Kirk rejects offered solutions as having too high a toll. While using a computer, he realizes that they have not tried visible light as a means to defeat the creatures. Spock volunteers to be exposed to an intense beam of light without eye protection, and while the test proves that ultra-violet light will kill the creatures without harming others, Spock, freed of the influence of the creatures, has gone blind from the test. The Enterprise floods the outpost with ultraviolet light from an array of satellites, killing the creatures, and see to the well-being of the survivors. As the Enterprise prepares to leave orbit, Spock reveals that his secondary Vulcan eyelids had prevented permanent blindness and that he can now again see.
Reception
Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode an 'B+' rating, describing it as "a little rocky in places" but otherwise praising the alien menace and Nimoy's acting.
The episode is popular for revealing new facts about Vulcan physiology. Galaxie 500, an American alternative rock band, wrote a song about the episode for their 1990 album This Is Our Music. The song was titled "Spook", but the band secretly used the title "Spock" since the lyrics referred to Spock's blindness in this episode:
When you went blind
Then I nearly lost my mind It didn't last